Srinagar: Addiction to heroin among the young population in the Kashmir valley has taken a further dark turn with every third young drug addict also found to be suffering from Hepatitis C disease, a recent survey has found.
The survey conducted by the Drug De-addiction Centre in Srinagar revealed that 90 percent of the 21 percent youth drug users in the region are using heroin while 10 percent are using other drugs. A total of 19 percent of them are 18 to 20 years old while 35 percent are 20 to 30 years old, and 7 percent are more than 30 years old, the survey revealed.
In-charge of the Drug De-Addiction Center of the government in Srinagar, Dr Yasir Rather said that the increase in the number of drug addicts can also be estimated from the fact that every day 10 to 15 new drug addicts are admitted to the hospital for treatment, including young addicts. A considerable percentage of them use brown sugar and heroin in different forms.
The research has also revealed that 59 percent of them are rural and 41 percent of the youth belong to urban areas.
According to the data of the de-addiction center established in SMHS Hospital, Srinagar, from January 2023 to December 2023, more than 51,000 youth were treated at the hospital. Among them, there were 1565 youths who registered their name in the center for the first time.
From March 2022 to March 2023, more than 41,000 drug-addicted youths were treated at GMC's Drug De-Addiction Center, including women. Dr. Yasir Rather, in-charge of the center, said that the heroin addicts are exposed to Hepatitis after they share the needles of the injections with each other adding HIV is also a possibility.
A young Abid ( name changed ) who came to the drug addiction center of GMC Srinagar said, "I was addicted to heroin for the past several years. At first I wanted to do it after seeing my friends and at once I got addicted to heroin."
“At first my friends gave me heroin for free, after that I spent my own money on heroin,” he added.
Another 30-year-old drug addict said, “My daily expenditure on heroin was around Rs 14,000 to 15,000 and during this time I spent all my savings on drugs."
Read more:
